The digital marketing landscape frequently changes, and Fort Lewis College’s marketing program has attempted to keep up with the industry.
FLC offers its students two courses within its marketing program, Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing, Tomasz Miaskiewicz, assistant professor of Marketing, said.
“The fact that we already have two classes is already better than many other schools in the state,” Miaskiewicz said. “I think it can be a great source of competitive advantage for Fort Lewis.”
History of Marketing
In the early 1900s marketing was a production-oriented field, Miaskiewicz said.
There was a scarcity of products, and companies were focused on producing as much product as possible at the lowest cost, he said.
Over time, companies began producing an abundance of goods, which led to sales-oriented marketing, he said.
The goal of marketing then was to sell more products than the competition did, Miaskiewicz said.
“Now, marketing takes on what's called the marketing-orientation, which basically says that, ultimately, good marketing is marketing where we meet customers needs,” he said.
Marketing aims to build relationships with customers to bring them back repeatedly, Miaskiewicz said.
Digital marketing skills are practical for all students, he said.
In today's world, the skills taught in Digital Marketing can be used by everyone, Miaskiewicz said.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is any form of marketing that uses technology, Miaskiewicz said.
Miaskiewicz was the first professor to teach Digital Marketing, he started in Fall 2016 when he became a professor at FLC, he said.
Digital Marketing covers topics such as search engine optimization, website development, email marketing, social media marketing and online advertising, he said.
The course is designed to introduce students to the digital marketing field, he said.
The main project students work on is a website project, Miaskiewicz said.
“I like to just call it the website project, although it's even more than that,” he said.
Students build a public website based on any idea, provided it is appropriate, using the website builder Squarespace, he said.
“It’s one of the best classes I’ve ever taken,” Dante Washington, senior marketing major, said.
Washington’s group remade the Gardenswartz Sporting Goods’ website, he said.
Because he was a sales clerk at Gardenswartz, Washington noticed that the Gardenswartz website was out of date and needed to be redone. He decided to work on it for his digital marketing class, he said.
After the website is built, students optimize it for search engines, he said.
Search engine optimization makes it easier for people to find a specific website when they do online searches, he said.
Students also use Google Analytics to look at how successful their website is, Miaskiewicz said.
Google Analytics allows website designers to analyze how many people visit their website and how they interact with the website, Washington said.
After students build the website, they begin to focus on the content of their website and how it creates value for their customers, Miaskiewicz said.
Washington’s group posted new content two to three times a week and tweeted about it two to three times a day, he said.
Students also develop online advertising campaigns for their website. However, the advertisements do not run because they require a budget, Miaskiewicz said.
Washington began by building the Gardenswartz website only for the Sporting Goods store where he works but added the Outdoors shop to the website after Gardenswartz asked him to, he said.
Washington now runs Gardenswartz marketing in addition to being a sales clerk, he said.
Social Media Marketing
The other class students can take that involves digital marketing is Social Media Marketing.
Lindsay Nyquist, director of digital communications and adjunct faculty of the School of Business Administration, teaches the Social Media Marketing course.
Nyquist has been teaching Social Media Marketing for six years, she said.
Social Media Marketing builds off of Digital Marketing and goes deeper into the social media aspect, Miaskiewicz said.
In this class, students get practical experience building social media campaigns for real companies, Nyquist said.
Nyquist works with businesses in Durango that want to rebuild their online processes, and she connects them with the students in her class, she said.
Students can walk out of this class with a job or an internship, Nyquist said.
Some of the companies that have worked with students in the class in the past are Mountain Motion Media, Ska Brewing and Durango Motor Company, Nyquist said.
Students become representatives of the company and need to be professional in all aspects, Nyquist said.
Future of Digital Marketing at FLC
Miaskiewicz is working on creating an advanced digital marketing course for students to provide them with more experience, he said.
“Nothing’s official yet but we’re trying to go beyond these two classes,” Miaskiewicz said.
“If we even go beyond the two we can really offer general marketing training while allowing our students to specialize in digital marketing,” Miaskiewicz said.